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PUBLIC ART FUND presents OSCAR TUAZON People

JULY 2, 2012, NEW YORK, NY—Public Art Fund presents Oscar Tuazon’s People, an exhibition featuring three new sculptures inspired by the improvisational creativity of urban neighborhoods. On view in Brooklyn Bridge Park July 19, 2012 – April 26, 2013, the exhibition responds to the park’s physical landscape as well as its role as a site of play and leisure. Like previous works, these hybrid sculptures incorporate both natural materials and industrial building techniques—local trees and cement casting are at the core of each of work— and explore the idea of architecture, labor, and reinvention.

“Brooklyn Bridge Park is one of the most important additions to the landscape of public space in New York City, and Public Art Fund is thrilled to have the opportunity to present the first installation conceived in response to the design of the new park,” said Public Art Fund Director & Chief Curator Nicholas Baume. “Oscar Tuazon has created a series of remarkably inventive and compelling three-dimensional works in recent years; this commission adds an exciting dimension to his oeuvre and gives New York audiences a chance to see a new body of work by this internationally acclaimed young artist.”

Engaging with traditional sculptural concerns like balance, volume, and weight, the three sculptures in this exhibition are installed along Piers 1 and 2 of Brooklyn Bridge Park and relate in both scale and utility to the people who encounter them. In The Rain, a ten-foot-square, cast cement cube embedded with a tree functions both as a resting place and a passageway; in A Machine, a tall tree becomes a spring from which water will flow; and in People, a makeshift handball wall is anchored by a tree trunk which also serves as the support for a basketball hoop. Informed by Minimalism, urban play, and utilitarian construction, these structures will both activate the area they inhabit and be enlivened by park visitors.

“In many ways, the works are inspired by the creative energy in the streets of Brooklyn,” said Public Art Fund Associate Curator Andria Hickey.” They were designed at a human scale as spaces for people to walk through or play in. And because the trees in each sculpture are organic, they will take on a life of their own within the site, weathering and changing over the course of the exhibition.”

Tuazon’s work engages with the Manhattan skyline, the Brooklyn Bridge, and downtown Brooklyn, while also responding to the park’s landscape. The sculptures employ the same raw materials as many of his other free-standing works and large-scale architectural interventions but here create new spaces for visitors to use throughout the year. Even as they question the limits of an object, its materials, and its sculptural form, the works become part of the landscape.

“We are thrilled that the Public Art Fund is presenting Oscar Tuazon at Brooklyn Bridge Park,” said Brooklyn Bridge Park President Regina Myer. “This site-specific work articulates the beauty of the park by bringing together organic and urban sensibilities. These installations enhance the park experience, and we know that park visitors will enjoy them for the months ahead.”

ABOUT OSCAR TUAZON

Oscar Tuazon (b. 1975, Seattle, Washington) lives and works in Paris. He studied at the Cooper Union School of Art and attended the Whitney Museum of America Art Independent Study Program, New York. His work was recently included in the 2012 Whitney Biennial and 54th International Venice Biennale as well as The Language of Less (Then and Now) at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Recent solo exhibitions include: The Power Station, Dallas (2011); Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (2010); Künsthalle Bern (2010); Künstlerhaus Stuttgart (2010); Seattle Art Museum (2008); and the Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2007). Oscar Tuazon is represented by Maccarone, New York, and Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich.

VISITING THE EXHIBITION

Brooklyn Bridge Park is an 85-acre sustainable waterfront park stretching 1.3 miles along Brooklyn’s East River shoreline. The self-sustaining park was designed by the award-winning firm of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc. and features expansive lawns, waterfront promenades, innovative playgrounds, a greenway, sports facilities and the popular Jane’s Carousel. Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation, known as Brooklyn Bridge Park, is the not-for­profit entity responsible for the planning, construction, maintenance and operation of the park.

The entrance to Pier 1 is located at Furman and Old Fulton Streets.

Hours: 6:00am – 1:00am daily Subways: A, C to High Street; F to York Street; 2, 3 to Clark Street; R to Court Street; 4, 5, 2, 3 to Borough Hall; A, C, F to Jay Street 

SPONSORSHIP

Major support provided by Kraus Family Foundation

Additional support from Jennifer Napier Nolen & Malcolm Nolen and Two Trees Management Company. Assistance from Maccarone, NY.

Public Art Fund is a non-profit art organization supported by generous contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations, and with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

Public Art Fund gratefully acknowledges the partnership of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, First Deputy Mayor Patricia E. Harris, Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kate D. Levin, and Brooklyn Bridge Park President Regina Myer. 

ABOUT PUBLIC ART FUND

Public Art Fund brings dynamic contemporary art to a broad audience in New York City by mounting ambitious free exhibitions of international scope and impact that offer the public powerful experiences with art and the urban environment.

For more information about Public Art Fund, please visit www.publicartfund.org.